INDIANAPOLIS — While away during the All-Star break, Joel Embiid began to feel a sensation all the way down his right leg that he compared to an electric shock.
“It was really painful to walk,” Embiid recalled at his locker late Tuesday.
Though officially identified as shin soreness on recent 76ers injury reports, Embiid called it a stress reaction. It became the latest test in Embiid’s more cautious approach to navigating his health this season, as he missed five consecutive games with that ailment along with right knee injury management.
His return to the floor Tuesday was productive and efficient. He totaled 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting plus six rebounds and five assists in 26 minutes of the Sixers’ 135-114 blowout of the shorthanded and tanking Indiana Pacers.
“I feel good enough to go out there,” Embiid said, “and play to the point where I think I have a little bit of confidence that I’m going to be fine and hope for the best.”
The Sixers (32-26) lost their first four games during this Embiid absence before an impressive win at the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday on the second night of a back-to-back. Questions about those struggles without the former NBA Most Valuable Player prompted a candid response from rookie guard VJ Edgecombe, who said Thursday, “We miss Joel. It’s that simple. He’s a walking 30 points.” Starting wing Paul George also remains out until late March while serving a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy.
On Sunday, Embiid progressed to four-on-four on-court work. He was upgraded to questionable on Monday evening’s injury report, then participated in most of Tuesday morning’s shootaround, coach Nick Nurse said. Thirty minutes before tipoff, the team listed him in the starting lineup.
The initial minutes were clunky for Embiid and his team, which did not execute Nurse’s desired pace and movement around the big man on offense and could not get a stop on the defensive end.
Embiid’s rhythm returned in the second quarter. He scored at all three levels, including a driving finish, multiple mid-range jumpers, and a three-pointer. He was on the receiving end of a slick no-look pass from Tyrese Maxey, which he dunked.
By halftime, Embiid had 20 points.
“Kind of wanted the ball more than I did the first time around,” Embiid said of that second-quarter stint. “Just got shots and knocked it down.”
Maxey said he felt Embiid’s presence on both ends, helping the point guard flirt with a 32-point triple-double (nine rebounds, eight assists) in 34 minutes, while four other teammates finished in double figures. Embiid appeared to be moving around the court well, including while protecting the rim as an interior defender. He received fourth-quarter minutes even with the Sixers possessing a massive lead, an effort to reestablish his conditioning. And though locking back into that two-man game with Maxey was mostly seamless, the point guard added that there were still moments when Embiid wanted him to cut more.
“He just takes so much pressure off us offensively,” said Maxey, noting that opponents can no longer send multiple defenders his way while sharing the court with the big man. “They’ve got to pay attention to him. … And then when I’m second pass right there next to him, it’s hard to [double team], too, so there’s a lot of space out there on the court.”
This Embiid return comes after a dominant stretch, when he averaged 30 points on 52.7% shooting along with eight rebounds and 4.5 assists in 20 games from Dec. 23 to Feb. 7. During that vintage run, Embiid declared this comeback season was already a success, assuming many outsiders figured he would never return to that level of productivity (and availability) after multiple left knee surgeries derailed his 2024-25 season and caused a nearly two-month absence the previous year.
Following Tuesday’s victory, Embiid acknowledged he previously was “not familiar” with the treatment or recovery process for stress reactions. He anticipates the path forward — closely monitoring the leg, and managing his workload — will be similar to how he and the medical staff handled his knee at the beginning of this season. Embiid also reiterated that he will trust in God, and that his body will respond how it is supposed to.
Count Maxey as somebody who appreciates Embiid’s newfound careful approach. Maxey believes it gives the Sixers “a chance to be healthy when it really, really matters” in the playoffs, when Embiid has often labored through games or suffered new injuries. And it has forced the Sixers to try to figure out how to play without him, mostly with a fast-paced formula that Embiid emphasized in conversations with Nurse during this most recent absence.
The Sixers snapped out of their skid Sunday night, while Embiid was still sidelined.
And once Embiid returned to game action against the Pacers?
“When he comes back and he looks like that,” Maxey said of Embiid’s performance Tuesday, “I think we’ve got a pretty good chance.”
